Seek Week, Monday – Enlarged Horizons

Myopia is a condition of the eyes that indicates nearsightedness. In common language we have adapted the word myopic to describe an attitude or limitation of perspective where we cannot see the larger picture. The proverbial, “Can’t see the forest for the trees” is a myopic condition. There are large barriers that impose themselves into our lives that tend to confine or shut down our vision. I love visiting Manhattan Island in New York because of the architecture and the immense size and scale of the buildings there, but you really need to be outside the city to gain any sense of the skyline and placement of structures in relationship to each other. Even in the widest of streets in that city your sight is limited to a narrow concrete canyon. Our understanding of where we are and how our current circumstances fit into the larger landscape of our past and future can easily get crowded down into a very small patch of ground just around our feet. There is hope from God in these closed in spaces. The image that is projected from David’s words in Psalm 119, “Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light to my path” indicates a ring of light that does not shine 25 feet down the pathway; it illuminates a circle around us exposing more of the path with each step that we take into that immediate light.

In His goodness and care for us, however, God does provide a way for us to make our way to higher ground and catch much-needed glimpses of the horizon. The promise in Psalm 40:1-4 lets us know that God not only inclines His ear to us, He pulls us up from the pit and sets us up on a rock. David was faithful in his writing to identify the source of his troubles, and being that he mentions neither a sickness in his body or the assault of an enemy against his life, we are left to conclude that David was in a pit of some inward unsettledness. We all know what those pits are about. Pits are “horrible,” as David describes his, because of the confinement of movement and the lack of ability to see anything around you besides the pit. The solution God offers to us is not just to get our feet unstuck from the mud in the bottom of the pit; He lifts us out of the limitations of vision, clears the skies and sets us on a rock from which we can see, orient ourselves and move confidently forward. The key to this kind of help is found in the first line of the Psalm: “I waited patiently for the Lord…” That is the primary posture of our time in Seek Week.

Waiting is not a strong suit for most of us. If we ask for help or answers, we typically go straight from asking to acting on what we think will help us out of the pit. Waiting in this passage implies that David was looking with expectation of God’s help for some time before the answers came his way. This is what we are setting ourselves to do through this week. Waiting on God’s answers is not a passive process. We lean into that expectation by asking, reading Scripture and listening for the voice, impressions, affirmations and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Set yourself to pursue that kind of waiting this week. Spend some time today asking specific questions and meditating on this Psalm 40 passage. Getting yourself started off on the right spiritual foot will serve you well in getting unstuck from a dark and muddy pit. Expect that you will be lifted up and set on a better vantage point from which you will be able to see an enlarged horizon. We need to see where we have been, where we are, and gain perspective on where we are headed. Trust me, it’s worth the wait.

-Pastor Jack

“Togethering” Tomorrow: Join us for a collective time of prayer and seeking from 12:00 to 1:00pm in the Café.